Democrats, when they were in the minority, didn't think something like a Supreme Court nominee with the power to screw America for forty long years was something worth pushing back at the Republicans over. The Republicans had no such misgivings; neither should they have. The Republicans understood that stopping working America from joining a union was a lynchpin to their continued success. Their corporate masters gave them the word and they moved forth boldly, firmly, halting the democratic process in the Senate and putting "PAID" to part of their buy-off bill from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Contractors Association and the like.
And, from the chair of the Majority Leader of the Senate, as the old song goes, "never was heard a discouraging word."
Bullies stop being bullies when bullies get whipped. It is abundantly clear to me that Harry Reid didn't think that American workers were worth even threatening the Republicans in the Senate with the "nuclear option," that is, threatening the Republicans with the whipping they've earned so many times over. Harry couldn't get into a staring contest with Trent Lott or McConnell because Harry blinks like a lizard in a sandstorm. Harry couldn't punch the Republican bullies in the nose because Harry is, in a word, scared. When the chips were down, and it was time to roll up some shirtsleeves and do some bare-knuckled political brawling, Harry was polishing his cufflinks. He couldn't even be bothered to mock the opposition by looking into a camera and repeating "All we want is an up or down vote. This bill deserves an up or down vote. If you disagree with it, vote against it. But at least allow an up or down vote."
Still, don't despair. Labor unions will still line up to give money to Harry. They'll still talk about how he "tried" to get the EFCA passed. They'll still be there when he's on the hustings, calling himself a "friend of labor." And they'll talk about how "this is an issue for 2008." In the meantime, workers will go on being intimidated, browbeaten and even fired for trying to exercise their First Amendment Right to Free Association.
See, just to get this wrapped up nicely, we need to understand plainly and clearly what the Employee Free Choice Act is all about. It's about the First Amendment. It was a plain statement that First Amendment Freedom of Association applies to working people.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court, led by Roberts and Alito, peed all over the First Amendment rights of students. Today, the Republicans in the Senate did it, with the connivance of a terrified Majority Leader. That tells me two things: first, the American people, and the electors in their several states need to sweep these miserable, soulless, worker-hating, pussel-gutted Republicans out of office; second, it tells me it's time to start shopping for a new Majority Leader: one with guts and a little talent for the bluff in a terribly high-stakes poker game. 2008 is, in fact, coming. And with it will come a whole host of new battles, battles for which we cannot afford to have a peacetime general.
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